Electromagnetic launchers, such as railguns, have received considerable interest due to their ability to accelerate projectiles without use of explosives. A railgun uses the magnetic field between two current-carrying rails to accelerate a current-carrying armature. Railguns are a promising non-explosive projectile launcher and have many potential applications, including mining. For widespread use, a railgun must be economic and powerful.
However, existing systems that can electromagnetically accelerate a projectile suffer from one or more deficiencies, such as rail degradation and less than optimal projectile speed. It is common for a typical railgun system to be unusable after ten to fifty launches due to rail degradation from heat and friction. An increase in launches available from a railgun can significantly lower the cost of launches. Since high projectile speed is important for most railgun applications, improvements to optimize projectile speed also are needed.
Accordingly, there is a need for a railgun system that overcomes one or more of these deficiencies of existing systems.